Soylent Green Is People said:
If you don't trust the government with the plans they've cooked up over the past decades, what does that say about your trust in their ability to manage a VAT or UBI? I do not trust them. Those that do trust can freely give - but rarely do..... Those that don't trust the government to do right should not be compelled to do so.
To reiterate, I'm not against taxation. I'm against frivolity. UBI is just that. To believe once a person gets a "sustainable" income from government that they will wean their dependency on the Federal teat and improve themselves is nothing more than naivite about the human condition.
When the government gives away needles and allows destructive behavior unabated, does that behavior increase or decrease? Sure, there are a few one off's who drop their habit relative to the greater number of consistent, chronic, permanent users, but the one off proves the tried and true fact that humanity seeks the lowest common pathway, not a universal greater good. Order cannot fix chaos.
My .02c
I do have skepticism about government's overreach especially those programs that are just paternalistic in nature. But I don?t understand the distrust in our government in the case of UBI and VAT.
We are one of the few developed countries (if not the only one) to not have a VAT. Are you saying USA isn?t up to par with first world standards? You?re starting to sound like me
Watch out IHO might call you out!
In all seriousness, VAT is relatively easy to implement because it?s been used in most 1st world countries for decades and it IS an efficient way to tax. (Unlike Warren?s wealth tax) This is something both conservative and liberal economists both agree on.
After VAT is collected, UBI is very much like Trump?s stimulus. Sending checks out to everyone. So where exactly is your distrust? You don?t think the government can send checks to people promptly and reliably? I?d argue that?s one of few core competencies the federal government has.
To your point about human behavior, I believe we should strive to align incentives better.
We have grown too trusting of the invisible hand. The invisible hand will not resolve our problems when it comes to managing unemployment and welfare. We have long bought into the economic theory that after people lose their jobs, they will get reskilled, retrained, and relocate for new jobs and the invisible hand will works its magic, all will be well again. This COVID recession will put this theory really to the test.
I am not optimistic because I look at patterns. When we lost the 5 million manufacturing jobs in the US, half of the workers never worked again. Of that group, half filled for disability. We have more people on disability today than people working in construction. We're going to face a bigger job loss w/ COVID.
Taking away welfare has always been a nonstarter for the left. And this pandemic just made sure it?s going to be damn near impossible to just take away welfare. So what?s the best way forward? I believe we should give UBI a try.
Will there be people who take their UBI checks and do nothing? Of course, just like many people who are on welfare now. But will there be more people who get out and work/volunteer more ? Absolutely because they no longer lose their benefits by doing so. This is the realistic path out of our welfare mess
